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So, Character A Does Not Know His Own Strength, right? Sorry I can't find anything more specific at the moment...
Edited by Miss_Desperado If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
Something like "Heavier Than It Looks". I don't think we have it. Closest I was able to find was Hollywood Density, and that's not really about when it's an intentional gag.
Yeah, a heavier than it looks thing if what I'm after. The specific example in my mind is from Musuko ga Kawaikute Shikataganai Mazoku no Hahaoya where a human woman asks a demon friend if she can hold her baby and is caught off guard by the baby, being a demon and having scaly wings and tail, weighing 17 kilograms (~30 pounds). The joke then goes on to show another human who helps care for the kids hold him without issue, prompting the question of whether the other human is stronger than she looks.
At its most basic, the gag is a form of Bait-and-Switch. We do have Stronger Than They Look, which might cover character A in certain scenarios. But in some cases there isn't going to be a character A, and even if there is character A might not be unusually strong, they might just be better braced for the weight.
But yeah, I'm thinking this could be viable.
Trying to think of a couple of additional examples to add to a TLP draft. Only one so far is Nibbler's poop/dark matter from Futurama, which Leela has to drag to the engine if I'm remembering the episode right.
Comes up a lot in old cartoons and comedies but I'm not enough of an expert to name the exact films and episodes off the top of my head. I'll try and look for it when I get some time. Some of the examples from Stronger Than They Look are probably a good place to start. Sci-fi pulls this one a lot too — there's probably MCU examples, like maybe Iron Man/Spider-Man and Happy? I'll try and look later tonight.
One I just remembered is a Discworld example where this and a tradition of children being named after whatever the priest naming them says is why Lancre once had a king named My God He's Heavy the First.
Edited by sgamer82
I'm sure this exists but I have no idea where to begin looking. I've watched some Looney Tunes, haven't found any good examples. Might sometimes overlap with Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress, like when Coyote is hanging in midair and they hand him the anvil. Slapstick doesn't seem to have it.
Edited by Unsung
Do we have a trope for when a character plans to hold something that seems light but, immediately upon taking hold of it, find themselves weighed down because it's so much heavier than expected?
Basically character A takes an item from character B. A can hold it just fine but the moment B takes hold they're pulled to the floor by the sudden and unexpected weight.